To what extent can 'The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' be viewed as a 'gothic novel'
To what extent can 'The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' be viewed as a 'gothic novel'? Jekyll and Hyde is a gothic novel. It was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, he got the idea for the story after a dream he had. The word 'Goth' is originally from a German tribe and has come to mean 'barbarian' and later know as 'Gothic'. In Gothic Literature certain features are expected. These are supernatural events, have villains and hero characters, strange weather, horror, mystery and deaths. Older Gothic literature was in castles and deserted buildings. Modern Gothic novels were written is more populated areas. Another text that can be classed as 'Gothic' is the novel 'Frankenstein'. The reason for it being a 'Gothic' novel is the way it has a mutant character. Frankenstein is a mutant and is made by a crazy scientist 'I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.' Here the crazed scientist is describing his creation coming to life. This quote describes the vision of the scientist looking at the monster he created. The images in this quote evokes some of the key gothic themes, such as the horrific
Duty and desire in Jane Eyre
How is the conflict between duty and desire explored in these texts? Desire is a term conveying a longing for a certain object, person or outcome. It is an emotion from the heart and is unaffected by social opinion. Duty, in contrast, is a moral obligation to an act, which is perceived to be selfless. The decisions made regarding these emotions are significant throughout 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wide Sargasso Sea'. However, these definitions were more extreme during the time that Brontë and Rhy's texts were written. In the 19th century, it was considered a completely selfish act for women to show desire, it was a vulgar emotion that women were expected to control and conceal. The female role during the 1800's was limited; they were expected to be passive and were passed from father to husband, similar to a possession. To perform one's duty to society was regarded as an unspoken rule imposed on all women, therefore, women never truly had the chance to express their true identity or gain real independence. The 19th century conflict between duty and desire was a key topic written about by many authors, predominately women, who illustrated personal experiences and beliefs through the characters and their decisions. In both Bronte's and Rhy's novels the authors illustrate the limitations imposed on women, society's views and expectations concerning the conflict, and the importance of
To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist
To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist? Within the Gothic genre, features of the Gothic protagonist include sharply contrasting character traits, some degree of tragic stature, a striking physical presence, an element of the sexual, and an association with the bestial. Stoker presents Dracula with greatly contrasting traits, from the impeccably polite and courteous host who greets Harker at the door, to a raging psychopathic monster. The aristocratic and noble nature of Dracula's heritage gives him charisma and credibility, on first encounter he seems strange but eccentric, however this lulls Harker, and obviously his female victims, into a false sense of security: "The light and warmth of the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fears." Stoker reveals Dracula's true self slowly and subtly, so as to build tension, such as when Dracula touches Harker and he feels: "a horrible feeling of nausea." This imagery hints at the horror of Dracula's true character, which is finally revealed when he encounters the Brides: "But the count! Never did I imagine such wraths of fury, even in the demons of the pit!" Stoker presents the count as being: "lapped in a storm of fury," foreshadowing the terrible storm at Whitby when Dracula arrives on English soil. Stoker's uses the imagery of hell to describe Dracula's rage, writing: "his eyes
Plot-Construction of Pride and Prejudice
JANE AUSTEN'S PLOT-CONSTRUCTION In contrast to the simplicity of her style, Jane Austen's plots are unexpectedly complex. She is not content to simply draw two or three characters in isolation. She prefers a family, with their many friends and acquaintances and she tries within her limited range to make things as difficult as possible. SETTINGS OF HER NOVELS Jane Austen's field of study is man. She is, therefore, more preoccupied with human nature than nature in the nineteenth century usage of the word. The background and the scenery of the provincial town is rich in its beauty and grandeur. But there is no attempt to look into the spirit of this country. Thus although, she has some sense of locality yet she does not paint an English community like the other writers of her time. She rather avoids those very elements of the population in which the local flavour, the breath of the soil is most pronounced. She is further incapable of evoking a scene or a landscape and cannot conjure up the spirit of Bath as Emile Bronte could conjure up the spirit of the Moorlands or Hardy that of Wessex. All this, one may say, would be fatal to her dramatic quality of construction. In all her novels, we see only a limited range of human society. Most of her characters are the kind of people she knew intimately, the landed gentry, the upper class, the lower edge of the nobility, the lower
In Tess of the DUrbervilles, how does Hardy present Tess and Angels relationship as one that is destined to fail?
In Tess of the D'Urbervilles, how does Hardy present Tess and Angel's relationship as one that is destined to fail? In Hardy's tragic novel, nothing is as clear as it seems. Although Alec D'Urberville was the ostensible instigator of the protagonist Tess Durbeyfield's downfall, it must be argued that Angel Clare plays just as a significant role in her destruction. Initial contemporary readings saw Tess and Angel's relationship as doomed by Tess' past, while more modern interpretations point to Angel's decision to leave for the failure of the marriage. Throughout the novel, Hardy makes great use of foreshadowing in order to emphasise how the numerous tragedies in his protagonist's life cumulate in disaster. This has never been more apparent than with Tess and Angel: as a keystone of the novel, their relationship is haunted by the spectre of the past all the way through. By introducing Angel almost as soon as he establishes Tess' character, Hardy makes it clear from the outset that this relationship will be more significant than any other.. It is evident that Angel and Tess will fall in love, but what is even more arresting is Angel's initial and lasting impression that Tess is the epitome of purity and maidenhood. Hardy starkly emphasises Tess' virginal aspects through compound nominal phrases such as "white shape" and "pretty maiden", creating the lasting image of her as a
Why would a Victorian reader find "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" shocking yet fascinating?
Why would a Victorian reader find "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" shocking yet fascinating? Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Jekyll and Hyde in 1886 in the middle of the Victorian era. This book is both shocking yet fascinating to a Victorian reader, I will explore this further. "Polar twins ... continually struggling," this quotation is talking about the struggle between Jekyll and Hyde; they are struggling to gain dominance over each other in Jekyll's body. They are polar twins, Jekyll is good and Hyde is Evil, this quotation shows that Jekyll and Hyde are linked, and this idea that they are linked in body and soul would be shocking to a reader yet it would also be fascinating because it shows the dual nature of man, the ability to do good and evil. There are many themes in Jekyll and Hyde that a Victorian reader would find shocking and fascinating at the same time, like Science vs. religion, civilisation vs. savagery, the dual identity of man, the way Stevenson portrays London, the gothic elements of the story, and the description of the characters and their relationships. Jekyll manipulates science to resurface the dual identity of man, only God should be able to do this, Jekyll is going against his god and dwells on the thought of committing suicide to get rid of Hyde, a Victorian reader would find this shocking because almost all Victorian people at this time
Conflict in Wuthering Heights. The conflict between nature and culture which forms part of the thematic structure of Wuthering Heights, is played out in the relationship between the two houses: Wuthering Heights which represents nature and
The conflict between nature and culture which forms part of the thematic structure of 'Wuthering Heights', is played out in the relationship between the two houses: Wuthering Heights which represents nature and Thrushcross Grange representing culture. This conflict can be interpreted in many ways, for instance in historical terms as a rural way of life contends against industrialisation; in psychological ways as a struggle between the ego and the id and in sexual terms as a choice between experience and representation. From the very beginning the narrator, Mr Lockwood identifies himself as a man of culture, he comes from a 'civilised society' and appropriately is living at the Grange. He, like the reader, is an outsider to the Wuthering Heights and his description of the 'stunted firs', 'gaunt thorns' and the 'narrow windows' creates a chilling and unwelcoming atmosphere. The name of the place also reflects this situation; 'Wuthering' meaning stormy hinting gothic elements. Mr Lockwood states the house is 'completely removed from the stir of society'; it is surrounded by the moors which symbolise freedom posed by nature, were Mr Heathcliff and Catherine's bond first developed. There is also almost a conflict among the house with the ill-tempered characters and its description; for instance, Mr Lockwood 'detected' that the name of the house is 'Hareton Earnshaw' yet it is
How does Flaubert use the Agricultural fair at Rouen to further his satire of 19th century French society?
WORLD LITERATURE 2 ESSAY: TYPE 2C Candidate number: D-0612-011 Name: Matthew Jackson Text: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Title: "How does Flaubert use the Agricultural fair at Rouen to further his satire of 19th century French society?" Word count: 427 words. HOW DOES FLAUBERT USE THE AGRICULTURAL FAIR AT ROUEN TO FURTHER HIS SATIRE OF 19TH CENTURY FRENCH SOCIETY? Gustave Flaubert wrote his novel Madame Bovary in the mid-nineteenth century as a satirical comment on the upper middle class, those who were just rich enough to pretend to be rich. Flaubert loathed them and wrote his novel to make them appear as the fools that he thought them to be. His loathing for the upper middle class of 1850's France stemmed from the ideals which they held. Flaubert saw his fellows as a generation lost to the meritless and frivolous dreams of the French Romantic movement.1 French Romanticism was a movement through all the creative arts towards idealising the world which artists constructed. Although equally present in music and visual art, Flaubert focused both his hatred and his satire on the literature of the time, this reactionary nature earned him the title of a "naturalist". This was however something that Flaubert hated; the Naturalistic movement was one that focused on specifics and on realism in a work, whereas Flaubert sought to make his story one that was
